Intelligent management of safety and access control issues is becoming increasingly important for all types of public and private facilities. Accordingly, an increasing number of facility appliances such as barriers (doors, windows, etc.), elevators, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, power generation systems, alarms, fire dampers, and lighting systems are being equipped with sophisticated recognition and key systems. Another factor behind the increasing complexity of facility appliances is growing integration of entrances and exits with diverse building and management systems. Examples range from central fire alarm/emergency systems to time and attendance terminals and networked security devices that provide data to a common building monitoring database. In short, there is a growing recognition in the facility management industry of the escalating convergence between mechanical products, electronic components and software/information technology (IT) capabilities. Accordingly, in order to insure the safety of facility occupants in the event of a fire or catastrophic emergency, it is becoming increasingly important to protect these mechanical and electronic components from the heat and flame of a fire.
The use of intumescent materials, particularly as coatings, in some fire protection applications has proved unsatisfactory because, among other things they demonstrate poor adhesion to the substrate to be protected, flaking above certain temperatures, and also demonstrate significant vulnerability to damage caused by routine impact. Intumescent materials are generally considered inferior to batt or blanket type fibrous fire insulation such as mineral wool or StructoGuard®. U. Sorathia, et al., Evaluation of Intumescent Coatings for Shipboard Fire Protection, J. Fire Sciences, 00: 200 (Dec. 24, 2002). Batt or blanket type fire insulation materials, however present problems in that they are heavy, bulky, and generally very difficult to install. Additionally, batt or blanket type fire insulation materials are prone to detachment from the surfaces they are designed to protect as the heat from a fire degrades, expands or otherwise destroys the means by which they are typically attached to those surfaces.